The project transforms two historic buildings into contemporary accommodation units rooted in the tradition of the region’s schist mountain houses. Schist volumes anchor the hotel to the landscape, while exposed concrete extensions hover, creating a dialogue between tradition and modernity.
Inside, light, scents, and the sounds of the mountains fill the spaces, offering an intimate sensory experience. Each accommodation unit is designed as a private retreat for contemplation and tranquillity.
In the heart of the Serra da Estrela Natural Park, the need emerged to breathe new life into two pre-existing buildings, reshaping them to welcome the TerraSense Mountain Charm Retreat, a rural tourism and hotel experience.
Embraced as a life’s calling by the hotel’s owners, the project sought to marry a pursuit of exceptional spatial quality with the raw, untouched beauty of its surroundings. A place marked by silence, solitude, and the strict regulations that come with being in a zone of highest environmental protection.
Thus was born the guiding idea: a contemporary reimagining of the traditional mountain house. Preserving the soul of the original structures, rebuilt in schist — the emblematic stone of the region. The design introduces a new architectural language. With restraint and precision, it uses the fewest possible materials, articulating a single, deliberate gesture that clearly marks the moment of this new intervention, while honoring the layers of time embedded in the place.
Inside, the spaces still carry echoes of the former houses, yet they are transformed. It is redefined by new relationships, unexpected transitions, and a refined spatial choreography. Each hotel accommodation unit, whether in the main house or the separate villa, is conceived as a unique world, offering its own intimate way of inhabiting the landscape.
Paradoxically, the challenges posed by the site and its protected status became the project’s greatest allies. The resulting volumes, grounded in tradition through the use of schist, gain a sense of contemporaneity through bold cantilevered additions in exposed concrete. These gestures open wide the architecture to the surrounding mountains that framing views, inviting in light, scent, and sound, and allowing the interiors to be fully immersed in the natural rhythm of this extraordinary place.
A space not just to stay, but a hotel retreat to dwell in quiet contemplation and deep, unhurried enjoyment.
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Project name: TerraSense Mountain Charm Retreat
Architecture Office: Atelier DRK
Main Architect: Diogo Aguiar Almeida
Location: Videmonte – Guarda (Serra Estrela)
Year of conclusion: 2023
Total area: 510.00 m²
Architectural Photographer: Ivo Tavares Studio
Builder: Manteivias, S.A.
Inspection: Atelier DRK
Interior Design: Artspazios, lda
Engineering: Egisete, lda
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